Castiel's Firsts
by luciferneedsconcent
Summary: A collection of short AUs that I was inspired to write. They are all based off of my idea on what Castiel's first times with these holidays would have been like if it had been shown on the TV show. In this collection, I will also dive into the history of each holiday, and with that, I hope you enjoy! (And hey, learning is cool too.)


**TRIGGER WARNING:** _Due to Misha's facebook live stream regarding the way the short version of Castiel's name is spelled, I am going to spell it the way Misha does, and write it as Cass. I know it may look strange, but even though Misha will never see this (or at least I can pray to Chuck that he won't ever see it) I still want to spell it the right way. So my dear fandom, forgive me._

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 ** Castiel's First Halloween**

Being one of Heaven's most valuable weapons, Castiel had never experienced a "traditional" Halloween. Of course he knew very brief on the holiday, he had observed the Winchester's when they had gone through the Samhain ordeal. However, since he was still tied with Uriel, he couldn't just drop everything and leave, he had to serve heaven. But times were different now, Castiel's relations with Heaven were questionable, and if he dared to return, they would probably have his head put on a stick. Angels weren't the white wings and golden halos everyone had expected them to be. Unfortunate.

Nevertheless, when Dean and Sam had heard that Castiel had never had a traditional Halloween, they had made it their mission to go all out for him. Of course the brothers weren't surprised at this news, the angels weren't allowed to celebrate an original pagan holiday. At this time though, the Winchester's cared less on tradition, and more specifically on candy-at least, that's what Dean cared about.

Whenever Castiel was out of the bunker, Sam and Dean would rush into the library portion and discuss decorations. Should they do scary? Should they do a "Nothing to make Castiel accidentally smite someone" theme? It was rather difficult to decide. Sam wanted to give Castiel the full experience, haunted house included. Dean rejected this idea though, stating that "it would set him off," and "Cass is more of a kiddy type of fellow. We should ease him into this." Of course all of this was just bullshit; Dean hated haunted houses. He had to deal with them nearly every day, and a light hearted change of theme was just what he needed...not that he was scared of them or anything….just, a change of pace. Let's go with that. The brother's decided to incorporate a mix of both themes, including: fog machines, faux spider webs, not-so-spooky skeletons, and a apple bobbing station to just name a few. Now all they needed was to get costumes. Dean had already decided that he would be Batman, and Sam decided to go for a more subtle outfit, Harry Potter would do the trick...but Dean insisted on being Batman, and somehow managed to convince his little brother into being Robin. And by convince, of course Dean had brought up all of Sam's embarrassing stories, and threatened to tell all of them at the party if Sam had gone through with his Wizarding World of Dorkwarts costume.

Over the course of the passing weeks, Sam and Dean had acquired all of the materials they would need to give Castiel the best Halloween ever. Together, the brothers decided that the best way to kick off the oncoming holiday would be to carve pumpkins with their feathered friend. It was about ten in the morning, the earliest Dean had ever woken up without having a job. Him and Sam had just gotten back from taking Castiel to a pumpkin patch, which had become an adventure in itself. The brothers quickly learned how indecisive Cass could be when it came to picking things out. He would grab one pumpkin, but see a five year old with a bigger one that somehow managed to look better than the one he had picked out. Sam and Dean were quick with their pumpkin pickings, and ended up waiting off to the side for the next hour or so as the angel disputed which pumpkin to get and why. But here they were now, back in the bunker with the three perfect pumpkins. The brothers got a white tarp and covered the long table in their living room, this would be where they would teach Castiel how to carve. Sam grabbed the pumpkins and put them on the table while Dean went to grab a few buckets and knifes. Castiel spread out a few towels around the table just in case any of seeds happened to spilled off of the table. Dean returned with the buckets and put them on the table. He had the carving knives in his other hand and put them on the table next to the buckets. Then he grabbed a few pencils and sharpies and placed them on the table as well.

"Smart thinking." Sam commented, sending Dean an approving nod. Sam distributed all of the essentials while Dean placed the buckets in the middle of the table. Once all of them had a pencil, sharpie, and knife, Dean cleared his throat so he could walk Castiel through the process.

"Alright Cass, the first thing you wanna do is take your knife and cut around the top of your pumpkin." Dean spoke. Sam drew a circle around the top of Cass' pumpkin to show the area that he was talking about. "The goal is to take this stumpy part off." He stared at Castiel until he nodded his understanding. Silence fell between the trio while they focused on cutting the tops off of their pumpkins. Once the tops were off and pushed to the side, Dean gave the next step.

Dean tilted his pumpkin to show Castiel the inside. "You see all that in there?"

Castiel nodded.

Dean licked his lips. "That's the seeds and stuff. You gotta take that stuff out, and put it in one of these buckets here. Got it?"

Castiel nodded his understanding and began to silently clear out his pumpkin with the other two men. Dean took the buckets outside once they were filled to the brim with all of the pumpkin innards. Sam cleaned up the rest of the gunk from the table and waited for his older brother to return, which he did ever so shortly. Once they all got situated, Dean instructed them to draw a sketch on their pumpkins with the pencils first, and then darken it with a sharpie, which then they could cut the shapes out.

In the middle of the carving process, Castiel cleared his throat and spoke up. "Do you two know why it is traditional for humans to carve pumpkins for Halloween?"

The brothers fell silent, they hadn't really bothered to research the history.

At their silence, Castiel decided to inform them. "It originated from an Irish myth called Stingy Jack. The myth says that a man named Jack invited Satan to have a drink, but Jack was stingy and didn't want to pay for his drink after he had finished. Somehow he managed to convince the devil to turn himself into a coin that could be used to buy other drinks. When the devil did however, Stingy Jack put put the coin in this pocket next to a cross so that satan couldn't change into his original form. Eventually Jack freed the devil, only on the condition that he not bother Jack for a year and that if he should die, the devil couldn't claim his soul." He paused as the brothers glanced at each other. "A year later, Jack tricked the devil once again into climbing up a tree to pick a piece of fruit. Jack carved a cross onto the tree and wouldn't remove it until the devil agreed not to bother him for ten more years."

Sam chuckled softly, "Where was he when we were dealing with the bitch?" he teased.

Dean chuckled as well, "No kiddin'."

Castiel continued his storytelling. "Well once Stingy Jack died, the devil kept his promise to not take his soul into hell, but God wouldn't let Jack's soul into heaven. Because of this, the devil sent Jack's soul into the dark night with only a burnt coal to light the way. Well, Jack put the coal in a carved out turnip and is said to be still roaming the earth. The Irish refer to this as 'Jack of the Lantern, or Jack O'Lantern.' In Scotland and Ireland, people carved ghoulish faces into turnips or potatoes and put them in windows or near doors to frighten away Stingy Jack or other evil wandering spirits."

"So no pumpkins?" Dean asked in his usual, questioning tone.

Castiel shook his head. "Immigrants brought the tradition over to the United States. They found out that the pumpkins, which are native to here made great Jack O'Lanterns."

Silence fell between the trio as they finished carving their pumpkins, hiding their designs from each other in order for the others to be surprised.

The bunker was set up just as Dean had imagined. There were faux cobwebs leading up the staircase, fake autumn leaves and hay everywhere, Sam had hung the skeletons and was working on the candy bowls. Crowley even joined in to help, setting up "fake" blood everywhere. Dean had arranged for the fog machines, and grinned as he made them perfect. The men all disappeared to change into their costumes, and once they were all dressed and ready, Dean beckoned Castiel down.

Cass arrived shortly, looking around the room in confusion. "What is this?"

Dean and Sam pulled the strings on some party poppers as they smiled. "A Halloween party for you!" Dean's grin was wide.

Castiel smiled softly. "A Halloween party?"

Sam nodded from behind Dean. "You never had a real celebration, so we made one for you!"

Cass blushed at the gesture, but was taken aback from how wrong their costumes looked. Weren't they supposed to be...scary?  
Dean sighed. "What is it? I know that look."

Castiel chuckled softly, "It's just that the traditional costumes were made of animal skins and parts to honor the spirits of the deceased that had come up when they believed the veil was weakest."

Dean stared at him bewilderedly.

"Just do your research." Castiel spoke. Dean nodded.

The rest of the night was spent making merry. Dean won the apple bobbing contest and the pie eating contest. The Trickster managed to show up, and managed to get in a fight with the older Winchester over who got the candy bowl, both of them being interrupted by Sam grabbing the bowl and lifting it above their heads so that neither of them could have it. Castiel enjoyed the night, which was soon followed by a Trick or Treat contest, to see who could get the most candy-without cheating.

An hour or so of candy collecting later, all of the Halloween party guests filed back into the bunker so they could review their wins. Gabriel, who insisted he be called Loki for the evening, had come out with the most candy. Because of this, there was another argument over whether he cheated or not, but Loki insisted he had won all of his candy fair in square. No one believed him. To stop the argument, Crowley snapped his fingers and the scenery changed. Now all of the people had been transported to a local camping site, with a bonfire lit in the middle of a circle of wooden logs to sit on. "Sit down." Crowley instructed, a ghoulish smile creeping to his lips. "I'm going to tell you about Halloween, since you incompetent fools don't seem to bother." A collective groan was emitted from the rest of the group, but Crowley used his demon powers to force them down. He sat next to the fire so he could sculpt it to his story.

"Before it was all about skimpy bunnies and latex catsuits, it was an honorable holiday." Crowley began, to shortly be cut off from Dean.

"Don't you dare put the great name of sexy costumes in vain." Dean snapped. The group rolled their eyes at his remark.

"Anyways," Crowley continued. "It began as a Celtic holiday. It's the time of year where summer ends and winter begins. Much like other people back then-not that you idiots would know-but people were extremely religious, and even more superstitious. The Celtic people celebrated this holiday right after Samhain, where they would light bonfires and wear actually scary things as costumes."

Loki raised an eyebrow at this comment. "Well, to be fair, I tried to find a scary costume, but the shop was all out of your face masks." He replied snarkily. The group chuckled.

Crowley rolled his eyes and continued to speak. "The fires and costumes were to ward off ghosts. The people believed that this time was when the veil between the dead and the living was weakest, and because of that, they believed that ghosts would visit. It was also believed that the presence of these spirits made it easier for their priests to predict the future-and you already know how I feel about priests." Crowley scoffed.

"Oh really, Father Crowley?" Dean teased.

"Only when my demons go rogue. Besides, makes me look sexy."

Dean scoffed in response. Crowley looked around at the group.

"Well?" Sam questioned.

"Well what?" Crowley responded.

"Are you-uh-going to continue?"

Crowley shook his head. "Nah love, the other information isn't as important just boring history."

The group looked at Crowley, annoyed he would just leave them at that.

Loki stood up, "Well, I have a better scary story." He announced proudly.

Castiel groaned, earning a "Shut your cake hole!" from his brother.

The rest of the night was spent with the group going around the circle and telling scary stories. No ghosts had appeared, maybe because of the bonfire, maybe because of the Winchesters being there, or maybe even because they had others to posses.


End file.
